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Ella stared out of the window as the sun rose over the city’s shining silver towers. Celestus looked like something out of a fairy-tale, but her life here was far from being one. For the past month, she’d been locked in her apartment, but no one could decide what to do with her. Today would be another day of trying to amuse herself whilst fighting off the madness that threatened from being locked up for so long.
Why haven’t they done anything to me yet? Ella paced the length of her sitting room. Though she had been put before them after Griffin’s death and they had issued an order, the Senate hadn’t removed her powers yet, just placed a metal band on her wrist that was supposed to block all magic. The thought of when the day would finally arrive made her stomach turn with dread, but she was still amazed they hadn’t killed her, especially when her warnings about the presence of Esme had been dismissed. They killed those suspected of magic for less. She wanted to escape, to try and save her world from the horrific threat the Senate had simply ignored, but they kept guards outside her apartment, and had devices watching her too. No move would go unnoticed.
She’d petitioned the Senate to let her retain her powers to protect them more than once, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. It was only a matter of time before the chancellor had someone remove her magic for good, or they decided she was too much of a threat to them and killed her.
Ella knew she couldn’t let that happen.
As for Luc, he hadn’t come to see her once during her month-long imprisonment. The Chancellor had appointed him to take on Griffin’s duties, and he’d become an unofficial member of the Senate. Part of her still resented him for not telling her the truth about them or his magic long before now, but despite having broken up with him, Ella knew they had to work together to stop the Esrac and restore the balance of power once and for all.
Her tiny apartment consisted of nothing but a sparsely furnished bedroom and bathroom, a sitting area with a black leather sofa and a small wooden table complete with two chairs, a kitchenette with an auto cooker, and whitewashed walls. Ella never had the time or money to furnish the place. It only served as a place to sleep and eat when she wasn’t busy working at the university alongside Master Griffin.
She loved the views of the city outside when she first arrived here, but after being stuck inside for so long, she hated the shining towers. The city that had once filled her with so much wonder now felt like a prison.
The door buzzed, and Ella rose, hurrying down the hall. She pressed the control panel to open the front door and shielded her eyes before a familiar light flashed in front of her. A force field had been placed on the door and windows to prevent her from leaving her apartment.
Her heart sank as she saw Sara holding a basket full of food on the other side. “Oh, hey.” Ella forced a smile.
“I thought you’d be happy to see me,” Sara said, dropping the basket on the table as she walked in. “You must be bored.” Sara’s long blue university robe accentuated her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The sight of the robe made Ella’s heart twist. She hadn’t been able to set foot on the campus since she’d been placed under house arrest.
“Bored would be an understatement.” Ella had tried filling her time by scouring the records written by Griffin that Sara managed to smuggle to her in the hope of finding answers about the Esrac threat and her own uncertain future. She’d spent most of the time holed up inside her bathroom to avoid the camera’s prying eyes. No doubt whoever’d had been watching her had thought she’d been in there crying—which she had for the first day. But the bathroom was the only place to get any real work done. So far, she hadn’t found anything that could be useful in solving either problem.
“Eric’s not here, is he?” Sara glanced around.
“No, he doesn’t come until late evening when he’s finished his shift.”
Eric worked as an engineer for the city’s fleet of airships and had been a good friend to Ella. He came to see her and have dinner with her almost every night. Thankfully, both he and Sara had been cleared of any suspicion in connection to Griffin’s death.
“Have you seen Luc?”
Sara shook her head. “No, he’s been so busy since he started serving as Griffin’s replacement.”
Ella winced. Every time she thought of Master Griffin, she saw Esme draining the life out of him and remembered how he’d wanted to use her to become powerful and bring magic back.
“How’s Fidget?” she asked instead. Since her imprisonment, her dust bunny had gone to stay with Sara. He’d gone half mad being forced to stay inside so much, but Ella missed having him around. He still popped through the window to come and see her, but it felt too quiet without him.
“Fine. I haven’t seen much of him in the past few days. I think he’s been off hunting. Have the dreams stopped?” Sara settled on the sofa.
Ella shook her head. “No. I’ve been seeing bits and pieces of my first life, but nothing helpful.”
Sara shook her head. “I can’t imagine ever having lived before. What was it like?” she said. “Do you remember much?”
“I remember being with Luc. He was so different then.”
Past Luc had actually enjoyed spending time with her, had made her laugh. They’d been open and honest with each other, having no secrets, unlike present Luc, who seemed withdrawn and convinced it’d never work between them. The two short months they’d spent as a couple seemed a distant memory now.
“Sara, I’ve got to get out of here. I need to go home. My father was a Valan knight too. He may have known way more than Griffin. I can’t find out unless I get out of here.” She’d been too afraid to talk about her possible escape for fear the Senate might have planted listening devices in her apartment. But after being cooped up so long, Ella didn’t care.
“How? There are guards everywhere.”
“I’ll figure something out, but I’ve got to see Luc. Can you get a message to him for me?”
“I’ll try.” Sara hesitated, glancing around the room, then fumbled in her basket for a moment. “I found this in the vault at the university.” She pulled out a small crystal ball.
“I’ll get into big trouble if anyone finds out I took it, so we’ll have to be quick.” She put it down on the table. “It’s supposed to show glimpses of the past. I thought it might help you with your memories.”
“I’m not sure the past can give me any answers,” Ella admitted. Her dreams had been nothing but fragments of a jumbled-up jigsaw puzzle that made no sense to her.
“What has it shown you so far?”
“That Luc and I were happy, for a while at least. Then it all turned to crap, and the rest is history.” She tugged a lock of dark hair behind her ear and sighed. “What do I have to do?”
“In truth, I don’t know how it works, but Master Griffin gave strict instructions never to touch it, especially not with their bare hands. Try it.” Sara leaned forward.
Ella picked up the orb, half expecting it to burn her or for guards to come swarming in, but nothing happened. “I’ve only seen glimpses of my first life once whilst being awake.” Sure enough, she closed her eyes and felt the orb grow warm in her hand.
“Do you see anything?” Sara’s voice drifted away as she spoke, as though carried off in the wind.
Ella opened her eyes and looked down, surprised to see she was wearing a low-cut long red dress that had no back. The fabric felt soft and silky against her skin.
“Ella?” Luc appeared in the doorway, frowning at her. “What are you doing?”
Ella? She had been expecting to hear him call her Aurelia, her past name.
“Luc? How are you here too?” Before the question had left her lips, she knew the answer had to be their connection. Whether he liked it or not, they were bound together by more than just their past mistakes.
He gave her a hard look. “I was hoping you’d answer that.”
This was present Luc, the one who wouldn’t even come to see her, not the past Luc who’d rushed into her arms whenever they met.
“I’m trying to see the past so I can learn from it,” she said, folding her arms. “Go. You don’t have to be here.”
Luc grabbed her arm. “Haven’t you learnt anything from our past mistakes? I don’t need to revisit them to know what we did was wrong.”
“Falling in love wasn’t a mistake,” she snapped. “Not then, at least. In our present lives, it might have been.” Her fists clenched as she felt the familiar unwanted ache in her chest. He had hurt her in a way no one else could, and she hated that she still loved him. “Look, I’m sorry about Griffin. I never meant for it to happen.” She sighed. “I made mistakes, I know that, but we—”
Luc raised a hand, cutting her off. “The chancellor wants me to strip your powers away. Maybe that would be for the best.”
“Esme is still on the loose. You need an avatar to help stop her, and like it or not, I’m the only one you’ve got. Go. I didn’t come here to see you.”
Ella turned to walk away, but before she could, Luc caught hold of her and gave her a passionate kiss. A whirl of thoughts and pictures flashed through her mind until something yanked her away.
As she slumped back on the sofa, the crystal fell from her hands and clattered to the floor.
Sara gave a cry of alarm, dropping to her knees to grab the crystal with sleeve-covered hands. “Oh, thank goodness it’s not broken!” She glanced over at Ella. “What did you see?”
Ella sat still, a whirl of colours flashing past her eyes. “I’m not sure.”
Her lips tingled from Luc’s kiss. It had felt so real.
Sara slipped the crystal back into her basket and touched Ella’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look a bit weird.”
Ella blinked, shaking her head to clear it. “I’m fine, but you should go.” She needed time to process what Luc had just shown her.
Sara frowned. “Really? Did you see anything?”
“Maybe. Go. Don’t forget to feed Fidget or he’ll get grumpy.”
Sara picked up her basket, leaving a bag of food on the table. “I’ll talk to Luc for you, but maybe you should move on. You said yourself that it didn’t work between you, and there’s always Eric.”
“I have more important things to worry about right now. See you later.”
